Few people ever attain the status of a “local legend.” For one thing, you must have accomplished something memorable and transcendent. Second, you have to have lived long enough in one place to see that legend grow and take on a life of its own. Jim Chevalier, who passed away Sunday, February 8, 2026, was one of those legendary figures.
JAMES (JIM) Otto Darwin Chevalier came into this world on November 23, 1951, son of Margaret and John Chevalier, local musical legends in their own right. Together, John and Marg played hotels and bars, union halls and service clubs and for a time in the 1940’s had their own radio show where they went under the name of the Rhythm Rangers. As a child Jim would wake up during the night to a house filled with musicians playing “the coolest music” deep into the night. John was a local guitar teacher and during the height of Beatlemania he taught up two hundred and sixty kids a week all with dreams of being the next George Harrison. Jim seemed destined to become a musician.
But Jim always gave credit to childhood chum (and future musician), Ron Nielsen, for encouraging him to pick up the guitar at eleven years old and teaching him his first rock riff. After that, Jim didn’t waste any time. By fourteen, he had formed his first band, The Unit Four. That group once played a gig in the basement of a local downtown clothing store, an attempt by the owners to lure a younger demographic in to shop. Eventually, that group merged with another popular local band, The Quotations to become Sarnia’s first “super-group,” The Grass Company which now boasted a line-up of Jim, Brian McLellan, Kim Mitchell, Dave Myles and Phil Goodwin. In a time when every lyric, song title, or band name came under careful scrutiny for hidden drug references, The Grass Company courted controversy with the establishment while winning fans of the emerging counter-culture. The Grass Company later changed their name to Zoom and moved to Toronto where they eventually broke up, much to the dismay of their devoted fans.
Jim returned to Sarnia and pursued an interest in Christian theology which he maintained throughout his life. He put his beliefs into practice by forming a Christian rock band, the Level Heads, in the 1980’s with brothers Todd Gillings and Craig Gillings and Scott Douglas as a means to spread his message of love, faith and peace. In 1992, he hooked up with former Grass Company bandmate, Kim Mitchell, and together they wrote the majority of songs on Mitchell’s Aural Fixations album including “America” which became Kim’s highest charting single ever. For his collaboration, Jim won a prestigious SOCAN award (Society for Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) for songwriting.
But perhaps no musical endeavor was as close to his heart as his association with Almost Floating founded in 2002 and lasting more than twenty years. With founding Sarnia members, Brian McLellan, Samantha Pickard, Craig Gillings, and Mark Potvin, Jim and the band brought their unique fusion of rock/folk/jazz to Sarnia audiences. Despite going underground for months at a time, they would ultimately emerge with new material and re-worked older compositions, always original, intricately arranged and fully realized on stage.
As a musician, Jim was not interested in becoming a flash wunderkind on guitar or a virtuoso when older. For Jim the guitar was like a paintbrush to an artist, a useful tool for bringing vision to life, a vision of the sound and music existing in his mind. His lyrics were not designed to obscure meaning but to reveal a hidden truth. Take this:
“Love is the lamp that lights our dark spots.”
An entire belief system found in a single line. Love can light the darkness within and without as we stumble through dark and troubled time.
He was a beloved figure in our community as much for his failings as his successes. He did not always make the right choices in life. He did not spend money wisely or look too far into the future. And if he thought someone needed something more than he did, then he would give it away with nothing expected in return. He would have been the first to admit that he did not always live a Christian life but he never lost his core beliefs. That was Jim. A most complex human being.
Jim was predeceased by parents, John and Marg, his sisters Sally Dillon and Margery Beauchamp, and brother Jerry Chevalier. Jim is survived by nieces, Wendy (Beauchamp) Box and Ruth (Beauchamp) Basso who provided much comfort and light through Jim’s final days. He is also survived by a multitude of friends, close and distant; musicians and former bandmates; and all those who loved and followed the man and his music through the years. We will all carry the memory of Jim in our hearts for the rest of our days.
“Not people die but worlds die in them.” Yevgeny Yevtushenko
